Work trays for cigarette factories



Jan. 17, 1961 D. H. YOUNGMAN WORK TRAYS FOR CIGARETTE FACTORIES FiledMay 21,1959

WORK TRAYS FOR CIGARETTE FACTORIES Derek Henry Youngman, Dept-ford,London, England, as-

signor to Molins Machine Company Lmlited, a British company Filed May21, 1959,'Ser. No. 814,724

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 6, 1958 3 Claims. (Cl.220-24) This invention concerns improvements in work trays for cigarettefactories, that is, trays in which large numbers of cigarettes arecollected from cigarette machines and in which they are transported.

Such trays are often used for supplying cigarettes to the hoppers ofpacking machines. In this case a tray is a box-like structure, usuallyrectangular, and with an open top, sometimes with a removable lid, andthe width betweenfront and back walls is slightly in excess of thelength of a cigarette. Such a tray. will be referred to below as acigarette tray of the kind referred to.

-In order that cigarettes in such a tray may be passed into a hopper thebottom Wall of the tray is constructed as a removable slide, the traybeing supported over a hopper and the slide removed to permit thecigarettes to pass into the hopper.

It will be appreciated that as the weight of the mass of the cigarettesis supported by the slide there is a certain amount of friction betweenthe slide and the lowest row of cigarettes and the rubbing action hasbeen found to mark them.

In some trays a flexible band has been used instead of a slide but theconstruction has been such that release of the band caused the samerubbing action and marking as a slide.

An object of the invention is to overcome this defect.

According to the invention there is provided a cigarette tray of thekind referred to wherein the bottom wall is formed by a band of flexiblematerial, one end of which is fixed to an end wall of the tray, thelower part of the tray having slotted guides extending along the lengthof the front and back walls and a roller being provided whose spindle issupported in the slots of the guides and around which the band ispassed, said band being of a length somewhat in excess of twice thelength of a tray so that after passing around the roller, when thelatter is located at the end remote from the fixed end to the band, theremainder of the band can be brought back to said end to lie beneath thefirst portion and extend beyond the tray to provide a portion which maybe grasped.

With such a construction the band is removed from the tray opening by akind of peeling action as the roller runs along the guides and thusthere is no rubbing no-r marking.

Means such as a catch may be provided to retain the roller at saidremote end.

If desired a device may be provided for winding up the band into a coilas the roller moves along the guides in the action of opening the trayaperture.

The invention will be further described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a front elevation of a tray, with the lower part of thefront removed to show interior parts.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a diagram of trays, as used in charging the hopper of acigarette packing machine.

2,968,419 Ratented Jan. 17, 1961 Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of theleft-hand bottom corner of Figure 1 showing a modification.

Figure Sis a fragmentary view of the right hand corner of Figure 1showing another modification.

Referring to the drawings, the tray 1 is of rectangular box-like formand of a width suitable to contain a ciga- -rette lengthwise betweenfront and back walls without undue play. The illustration may beregarded as typical of the kind of trays with which the invention isconcerned though various makes differ in detail and size and sometimesin shape.

To the lower edges of the front and back walls 2 and 3 are fixed slottedrails 4 in which a spindle of a roller 5 can travel to and fro from oneend of the tray to the other. A flexible band 6, made of canvas or othersuitable material, is fixed at 7 to one end wall of the tray and passedaround the roller and brought back again to the same end wall, beyondwhich it extends at 8 sufficiently to be grasped by the machineoperator. In this condition the tray is ready to receive or retaincigarettes. When it is desired to discharge cigarettes from the tray theband can be pulled and the roller will travel along the rails 4.

It will be seen that the band is removed from cigarette supportingposition by a kind of peeling action and there is no friction, and thecigarettes cannot be marked or injured in any way. The roller is held inthe position shown in Figure l by any suitable catch, which is releasedwhen the band is to be pulled. Such a catch could be safely trippedautomatically by the action of fitting the tray over a cigarette hopper.See Figure 4, where a spring catch 11 is tripped by engaging an abutment12 on the hopper side.

Referring now to Figure 3, 10 is a diagram of the hopper of a cigarettepacking machine with a tray superposed on it. As shown the band 6 hasbeen pulled and the cigarettes have already passed from the tray to thehopper. If then the roller is held against translation while the tray ispulled to the right, as indicated by the arrow and the dotted tray, theband will be returned to cigarette receiving position and the rollercatch can then be set to hold it.

In order to prevent the weight of the cigarettes from causing the bandto sag, the free end of the band may be fastened in any desired way, forexample, a block 9 on the band prevents undesired inward movement of thefree end.

If desired the band could be wound up into a coil near the reference 8,instead of hanging free after the band has been pulled, but if the bandis immediately returned to cigarette receiving position as explainedabove, there is little risk of its becoming soiled by hanging down for afew moments.

An arrangement for winding the band is shown in Figure 5 where 13 is acurved housing into which the band is rolled and a spindle 14 to whichthe end of the band is fixed is urged by a spiral spring (not shown) torotate in the direction of the arrow, the arrangement being thatcommonly used on flexible measuring tapes.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A cigarette tray of the kind referred to wherein the 7' bottom wallis formed by a band of flexible material, one end of which is fixed toan end wall of the tray, the lower part of the tray having slottedguides extending along the length of the front and back walls, and aroller having a spindle supported in the slots of the guides and aroundwhich the band is passed, said band being of a length somewhat in excessof twice the length of a tray so that after passing around the roller,when the latter is located at the end remote from the fixed end of theband, the remainder of the band can be brought back to said end to liebeneath the first portion and extendheyond the tray to preyide a portionwhich may be grasped, whereby "said band may be peeled from the traybottom as the roller runs lengthwise of the tfay in the -guidesto:permit discharge of cigarettes from the tray bot'tdm without 5 damageto the cigarettes.

'2. A tray as claimed in clair'n lcom'prising a catch to retain theroller at said rembte end. v

3. A'tray as claimed in claim 1 cbmprisinga device fo r winding up theband at the free end into'a coil as 10 the roller moves along theguides.

UNITED STA' IES PATENTS Adams Sept. 29, Scott Dec. 26, Beringer Aug. 28,Sehmid Sept. 4, Smith -June 20, Fergus May 29, Cavanaugh Apr. 28, MyersMay 23,

